TOPEKA – Independence Republican Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt announced in an e-mail Wednesday that he plans to run for attorney general against incumbent Steve Six, a Democrat.
Schmidt was first elected to the Kansas Senate in 2000. Prior to that, he was a Kansas assistant attorney general and special counsel to Gov. Bill Graves.
Below is the announcement from Schmidt’s campaign:
INDEPENDENCE – (September 16, 2009) — Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt (R-Independence) today announced he will be a candidate for attorney general in 2010 and released the following statement:
“Over the past year, my family and I have considered how I could make the greatest contribution to our state and whether I would be a candidate for public office in 2010. This is an intensely personal decision. In July, I appointed a campaign treasurer to explore a possible statewide candidacy and began traveling the state and listening to Kansans. I am grateful to have been encouraged by so many people to seek statewide office.
“Earlier this month, I picked up my hometown newspaper and learned that local law enforcement officers took down a meth lab only about a mile from my home in Independence. An armed fugitive was loose, perhaps somewhere in my town, perhaps somewhere in my quiet neighborhood, perhaps in a yard where my children and their friends play.
“Life’s events sometimes have a way of opening our eyes to the obvious. The principal focus of my service in the Senate has been making Kansas a safer and more secure place to live, work and raise a family. This work is not done and I remain committed to it. This is where I can make the greatest difference for our state over the next four years.
“Therefore, I have decided to become a candidate for Kansas attorney general. I am dedicated to being a strong voice for the safety and security of Kansans. I am sincerely grateful to the many friends across the state whose advice and counsel have helped me reach this decision.”
Senator Schmidt has been a longtime leader on public safety issues and currently serves as vice chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. His work to improve public safety and security includes:
• He was the chief sponsor of the Sheriff Matt Samuels Chemical Control Act, which sharply reduced methamphetamine production in Kansas. He received the Friend of Law Enforcement Award from the Kansas Sheriff’s Association for this leadership. • Senator Schmidt also was the chief Senate sponsor of Jessica’s Law, which imposes life prison terms on sex offenders who prey on children. • After the September 11 attacks, he wrote the law making endangering the food supply a crime, a step that brought Kansas law enforcement agencies into discussions about protecting Kansas agriculture. • He wrote the law creating the crime of aggravated child endangerment and a separate measure increasing penalties on con artists who prey on senior citizens or disabled Kansans. • Senator Schmidt wrote the law establishing an independent office of inspector general to seek out fraud and abuse in the Kansas Medicaid program. • He wrote the law that puts repeat burglars and thieves behind bars instead of back on the streets on probation.
Before being elected to the Senate, Schmidt served as an assistant attorney general for Kansas, as general counsel to a United States Senator, and as special counsel to Kansas Governor Bill Graves. He has worked as a private attorney, including service as city prosecutor for Independence.
A fifth-generation Kansan, Senator Schmidt earned his law degree from Georgetown University. He is a graduate of the University of Kansas and holds a master’s degree in international politics from Leicester University in the United Kingdom. He currently is pursuing an advanced degree in law at the University of Kansas School of Law.
5 Comments
What, the Republicans couldn’t get Phill “I got my ass kicked twice in a row” Kline to come back and run for his old job?
Pity.
Wow. Instant front-runner.
Phil could at least endorse him.
Schmidt, like his buddy Phill Kline, was long in the pocket of the for-profit prison industry and unsuccessfully led the way to try to repeal the law that keeps those dangerous and economically draining prisons from operating here.
Jessica’s Law was bundled with the for-profit repeal bill. It was designed to raise Kansas prison population to a budget-breaking level. It made it unlikely that offenders would plead guilty in return for very long, instead of life sentences, subjecting children to reliving their abuse on a stand in a courtroom full of strangers and hostile defense attorneys. It codified registration requirements so onerous that it encouraged sex offenders to defy the law. In Kansas, even adulterers could have been convicted as sex offenders and have been forced to register with the separate counties in which they lived, worked and went to school.
Though the legislature rejected Schmidt’s repeal bills, it did pass the “mom and apple pie” Jessica’s Law, which is unlikely to ever be undone and will cause generational deficits.
Schmidt’s bill was supported by the likes of Oklahoma House member Ron Kirby, who, against numberous provisions of that state’s ethics policy, came to Kansas with an executive of GEO Group, Schmidt’s substantial contributor, to testify on behalf of the corporation.
Here’s a campaign slogan for Schmidt: “He may be the fox guarding the henhouse, but he’s OUR fox.”
Well, he is in my district, and as worthless as tits on a boar hog, never introduced one piece legislation that actually helped this area, just introduced more worthless laws that increases fines, just another tax on the public, also known as revenue enhancement.
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[...] Wichita Blogs are reporting good old Derek Schmidt is throwing his hat in for the AG race. This was concerning because we at FWKS were worried that the Derek Schmidt Show might not be picked up for another season. [...]